Stardent Computer Inc, Concord, Massachusetts, as reported briefly last week (CI No 1,673) launched a range of Intel Corp 80860 RISC-based desktop graphics Unix systems, the Visualisation Through RISC Acceleration – Vistra 800 series. The CPU element of the new machines – reckoned by Stardent to represent around one third of the system – is derived from Oki Electric’s unannounced, but widely previewed OkiStation 730, which is built around a 40MHz 80860 part. The series comes in three models, the 800, 800e and 800ex, rated at 31 MIPS, 11.4 MFLOPS and 26 SPECmarks. Each comes with from 16Mb to 64Mb RAM, 3.5 floppy drive, 200Mb or 400Mb disk, six SCSI ports, run OSF/Motif, Stardent’s Application Visualisation System and its implementation of Unix System V.4. The 16-bit colour 800 and 24-bit colour 800e are rated at 33,000 polygons and 260,000 three-dimensional vectors per second. The high-end, 24-bit colour 800ex incorporates two additional 80860s and is claimed to perform 90,000 polygons and 500,000 three-dimensional vectors per second. The 800 ships next month, the 800e and 800ex from September. With 32Mb RAM, 400Mb disk and a 19 colour monitor, prices go from UKP23,000, UKP26,230 and UKP35,800 respect ively. Kubota Corp, Stardent’s largest investor, will manufacture the boxes, and will also market the boxes in Asia in a few months time. At the same time, Stardent also joined the Mass860 Intel 80860 supporters club, which, like others in the genre, encourages software developers to implement their applications for the part, and ensures that systems comply with an application binary interface standard for the processor.
